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You’ve heard all the classic lines from “Field of Dreams.”  

There’s perhaps the most famous: “If you build it, he will come.” 

Or, Kevin Costner’s character Ray Kinsella calling out, “Hey dad, wanna have a catch?”

And then there is the exchange between Ray and John, his deceased father.

John: Is this heaven?

Ray: It’s Iowa.

John: Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven?

Ray: Is there a heaven?

John: Oh yeah, it’s the place where dreams come true.

Ray: Maybe this is heaven.

That was certainly the case for me, my wife and other baseball fanatics on our recent 2024 Midwest Baseball bus tour, which covered 2,864 miles and included six games after going from North Carolina through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin — a fifth of the 50 states in the entire country and eventually back home.

Besides major-league games in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Chicago (for two games, including Wrigley Field), there was a final stop in Louisville for a Triple-A minor-league game.

Then there were special destinations at the Field of Dreams and the sacred grounds of Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, an outdoor stadium held in the highest esteem that is known as the “frozen tundra.” 

Where to start?

First was taking a bold leap last year to try the East Carolina Baseball Bonanza bus tour with Burke Christian Tours, hoping this might be a good option to avoid navigating all the traffic and logistical issues with doing this kind of trip on your own.

It turned out to be the carefree ride of our lives, not having to worry about the grind of the traffic, parking, driving to and from the ballpark or dealing with the masses using public transportation. Oh, and the bus pulls up to the stadium, drops you off with the group close to one of the entrances and then picks you up after the game.

Tour director Stan The Man and our driver take care of handling the luggage and handing out the room keys at the hotels and all the other details in providing a first-class experience.

All we had to do was find our way onto the bus, and eat lots of great food while enjoying baseball plus many other treasures in our travels.

Similar to last year’s tour, the first and last days were primarily travel days, but we did make it to Cincinnati for the first game at Great American Ball Park — the lone stadium in the bunch that we had previously visited. 

Along the way, we made a rest stop at a place with a cult following — Buc-ee’s, a Texas-based chain with a bucktoothed mascot’s smiling face. It’s a most unique gas (with an endless line of pumps) and convenience store chain with award-winning restrooms and a mix of all kinds of tasty food, including its famed Beaver Nuggets, brisket, barbecue, tacos and all kinds of baked goodies, along with novelty items, clothing and more.

En route from Cincinnati to St. Louis on the second day — going through Indiana and Illinois when we started to see constant cornfields — we made a lunch stop in Casey, Ill., which is known for “Big Things in a Small Town.” So we saw the world’s largest bird cage, golf tee, mailbox, pitchfork, rocking chair, etc. Sounds kind of cheesy, but it was fun.

Arriving in St. Louis was a first for me since 1977, and it was a new but improved Busch Stadium from the old days of the cookie-cutter, multi-purpose facilities. I love the support of the fans for their beloved Cardinals, who won an exciting walk-off in the bottom of the ninth on this night.

Then it was on to Iowa, including a visit to Mission BBQ where the restaurant asks customers to stand and sing the national anthem every day at noon — while we enjoyed some delicious “N.C.” Barbecue.  

Field of Dreams was on deck where we went to the famous field and first saw Frank Dardis, one of the original Ghost Players of baseball legends such as Shoeless Joe Jackson accused of being bribed to lose the 1919 World Series to Cincinnati Reds, emerge from the cornfield. Dardis also spoke for about 30 minutes with lots of stories about the days when the movie was made and how it has continued to be a big part of his life.

Several in our group made our way to the field to take swings, pitch and field, including “Slugger Ann,” a spirited 81-year-old lady, who showed us how to hit. I was a pitcher back in the day who had great control but couldn’t throw the ball over the plate after many years on the sidelines but probably hit better than my youthful days. Go figure.

Still, it was a blast for all of us to be on that field and a visit afterward to the nearby exhibit/museum to learn more. One of my favorite meals on the trip followed at Chad’s Pizza in downtown Dyersville, Iowa, which featured a buffet of delicious tender broasted chicken and real mashed potatoes, the restaurant’s signature pizza and soup/salad. 

Heading north to Minnesota, and the halfway point on our adventure, was a midday visit to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the U.S., followed by the Twins’ game that night at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis where we enjoyed dugout level seats in a stadium with a nice vibe.

One of our two days not seeing baseball games in stadiums started the second half of our journey — Green Bay, the home of the seven-time NFL world championship Packers. 

This football palace is the only community-owned, non-profit professional sports team in the U.S. and the last of the small-town teams from the early days.

We took the guided Classic Stadium Tour where we absorbed all kinds of facts and figures from our perch in a premium seating area before experiencing the players tunnel leading to  the hallowed field and chanting “Go Pack Go!”

Heaven, again, just like Field of Dreams, and our next destination in Chicago — fulfilling a lifelong goal of making it to Wrigley Field, which was built in 1914 and is the second oldest ballpark in the majors behind Fenway Park.

From the rooftops and the bleachers to the ivy-covered outfield walls, the traditional seventh-inning stretch and the days of Harry Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Wrigley Field is just different. And for me, a lifelong Pirate fan, the visit was even more special with my team rallying for a win over the Cubs.

Earlier that day, we took a guided river cruise through downtown and all the skyscrapers before lunch at Giordano’s for deep-dish pizza. Then it was off to the 360 Chicago where a couple of our brave souls took a tilt ride outward through a glass platform creating an adventurous angle to look out from 1,000 feet above the Magnificent Mile and view Lake Michigan, which looks more like an ocean.

This was actually Day 2 of our time in Chicago, the only city where we spent two consecutive nights. The previous day we went to Chicago’s South Side to see the White Sox in Guaranteed Rate Field in an afternoon game and then went to the Navy Pier for dinner where we chose Harry Caray’s Tavern (he remains a legend in the Windy City more than 25 years after his death).

Our final stop on the way home was in Louisville, Ky., to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory where I got to take a few more swings in the batting cage with a Babe Ruth model bat, toured the facility where bats are made, held bats of Pirates’ legends Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell and had our photo taken with a statue of Clemente.

And then there was a final minor-league game that night in Louisville. 

Hey, it’s baseball, and this bus tour is contagious. We can’t wait to get our next Christian Tours catalog for 2025 and see if the West Coast has another trip of a lifetime to offer.